A 20 Somethings Take on Women’s Health

I’m Back!

So, it’s been a while since I made a post. Basically I made my last post for my undergrad degree and was like “Bye! See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya! It’s been real! *closes computer, burns all paper out of backpack, hulk rips tank top*

Graduation Baby!

But actually just kidding because the real word is just getting started folks!

So I’m back to bless your timelines with my wonderful antics, feminist tweets (get ready for March people!!) and post grad stories.

To catch you up to speed here is what has happened in the last 5 months.

This summer I was a nanny to twin 13 year olds and we had a mega blast running around New Hampshire. We watched movies, read so many books, listened to the Harry Potter books on audio, ate so much umm food, and swam almost every single day! These kids changed my life. They were so mature and we would have quality conversations about the world today. Olivia and Cam would have educated discussions with me about politics, climate change, puberty, and feminism of course. Olivia learned a lot about the history of women and the waves of feminism and even decided to not shave her legs to “stick it to the man”. Her thought was if her brother didn’t have to shave then she shouldn’t have to. We started photography projects as well on our “Mountain a Week” goal and wrote short stories to go with it. This

Olivia, myself and Cam at Rye Beach

was the summer that I always wanted growing up, but never had the resources to do it. Side note: I bought a car!

Phoebe the Forrester

I was quickly hired in the good ol’ Admissions Office at my alma matar, Plymouth State. I made the decision to pressure my masters at PSU in March for my MED in School Counseling and realized that my info booth in the HUB job wasn’t going to cut it as post grad work. I reached out to the Admissions Office and was brought on to cover maternity leave for the first semester and was then put onto the Transfer Team.

Transfer Admissions is an interesting field. There are so many students that do transfer schools, but it is not something that was ever brought to my attention as the Fellow of Admissions. I have been learning so much everyday. I am a full blown Admissions Counselor. I travel all over New England, meet with prospective students, drive hours a day to get to wherever I am working that day, and I read and make decisions on applications (Woah.) So basically I’m a full blown adult… Not really.

Dev and I pretending we don’t have work on Monday’s

Three days a week I scurry back to campus for a few (or many) hours for my grad classes, because as we all know I’m a tad crazy – switching my major with one semester left- and I’m going to finish my masters in 18 months, which means I am taking 4 grad class this semester and next. My weekends are filled with papers, Open Houses and

margaritas. Being an adult is kinda over rated and a full time job that does not pay overtime. I am currently living with my pals Jim and Denis in their garage, which is a pretty sweet setup to be honest, so I’m not complaining just wanted you all to know that I’m still a fake adult.

What this post is going to be about is how to ease your way into post grad life and how I am not on fire 24/7. Hope this might be able to help some of you out!

Read, Respond, File, Delete.

This is the motto I live by when it comes to my email. I have about 10 different folders in my email inbox and I follow

A peek into my current inbox

these 4 steps every time an email comes in. Yes, emailing is a huge part of my job because of all of the student questions that come rolling in everyday, but at all times I have no unread messages and usually nothing even in the inbox. This makes me feel on top of my shit because I don’t have that looming notification icon hovering over my mail app.

2. Put your laundry away!

Not only does this make it 100% easier to get ready for the morning, but also makes my apartment ready for company. So much of my life is living out of a suitcase and packing for multiple days at a time that it is so easy to get home on Friday’s and throw my wash in and hang everything up so I can see what to wear for the week. It’s also important to have a few stapes or “go to” outfits so if you hit snooze too many times you won’t be standing in front of a pile of clothes on the floor and wonder what to wear for work that day.

3. Pay your bills at least two days in advance!!!

I can’t stress this one enough! Now that I have things like a car payment, insurance, phone bills and rent to pay for, not to mention a credit card keeping track of when everything is due is a pain and you can loose track of this quickly. I have alarms on my phone for two days prior to when the bill is actually due so I can guarantee that the payments are being received on time. This also makes sure you aren’t getting bad credit (also pay more than the minimum on your credit card, even if it is $20 more).

4. Invest in quality items

Things like skin care, hair care and vitamins shouldn’t be the things you cut corners on. Take your make up off at

Jenny and my 17 year old sister (who is who?)

night. Wash your face. Brush your hair and teeth. Do these things and when you are in your 30’s, like my cousin Jenny, you will be looking like you are 25 still. Regularly I am told how lucky I am to have a cousin that was so close in age to me growing up and when I look at the person confused I realize that they mean Jenny, my cousin that is 15 years older than me. This can be said about apparel as well. Stop wasting your money on $5 leggings that get holes in them in 2 weeks and buy a pair that are $20 that aren’t see through.

5. Schedule EVERYTHING out.

I’m serious. Put everything into your calendar. All of your doctors appointments, lunch meetings, gym times, even times that are spent traveling for work. Make use of the setting that allow you to have the calendar say that you are out of office or busy or make the events private if you don’t want anyone knowing that you have to get your eyebrows waxed. This also makes it so much

October’s Calendar

easier to track spending habits, put in your hours for your time sheet and see when you can go out with friends after work. With my crazy schedule it’s nice to have everything in front of me when planning out my week and have my calendar available to my coworkers to see when I am around as well.

So these are just the top five things that I have found to be really helpful entering the adult world and how I am passing it off as having my life together. Keep it up out there friends!